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Can Pandit handle it (and should you steer clear of Citi if not)?
15 May 2008
If Meredith Whitney’s right, Citi’s going to the dogs no matter how hard Vikram Pandit tries to bed it down amongst the roses.
Whitney says Pandit faces an “impossible feat” in turning Citi around. The associated costs, according to Whitney, are simply too “seismic” and the revenue streams too feeble.
From the Whitney perspective, Pandit’s decision to divest $400bn of non-core assets and cut 9,000 jobs makes no difference. She predicts the associated restructuring costs will be prohibitively expensive and that profits (and therefore bonuses) will be minimal for the next three to five years.
To make matters worse, questions are being raised about Pandit’s stewardship of the big bank.
Why, for instance, has he placed an ex-head of Morgan Stanley’s equities business in charge of everything from investment banking, fixed income, corporate banking and alternative asset management at Citigroup, despite a manifest lack of broad organisational experience?
If Pandit fails, Citi will not be a pretty sight. Is now the time to take evasive action and send your CV elsewhere? Alternatively, put the pro-Pandit case below.
Silly question. Of course Pandit's not up to it. The biggest thing he ever managed previously was a hedge fund, which hardly leaves him well placed to manage an investment bank, a retail bank, an asset manager and God knows what else. All he's done so far is bring in a few cronies (John Havens Brian Leach), and produce this restructuring plan, which would be cripplingly expensive.
Citi boy 15 May 2008
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